Indigenous people have shared their personal stories of racism on social media, after One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson said there was no definition of Aboriginal in an interview on the Bolt Report.
“What defines an Aboriginal?” Senator Hanson told host Andrew Bolt.
“You know, there’s no definition to an Aboriginal.
“If you marry an Aboriginal, you can be classified as an Aboriginal.
“Or if the community or the elders accept you into that community, you can be defined as an Aboriginal.
“And that’s not good enough, because then if you make a comment about it, well what are you — are you an Aboriginal, or not an Aboriginal?”
Senator Hanson called for a debate into the definition.
“I think the whole lot needs to be opened up, a big debate on this, and to say that you’re humiliated or intimidated,” she said.
“I think that people need to toughen up a bit, I think we’ve all become so precious, we’ve stopped freedom of speech to have a say, to have an opinion. And I remember when I was a kid, sticks and stones may break your bones.”
In response to Senator Hanson’s comments, the creator of ABC TV’s Cleverman, an Indigenous Australian superhero series, Ryan Griffen, took to Twitter.
“Another white person telling us what it means to be Aboriginal. It don’t work like that,” he posted.
He then encouraged other Twitter users to share their experiences, using the hashtag #DefineAboriginal.
Here are some of the responses.
This post originally appeared on ABC News.
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